CPP N°2: Porcelain vs
Lava is the result of a moulding process pioneered by the
studio that it calls Catenary Pottery. The
contraption is sort of like an analogue 3D printer, whereby liquid
clay is poured into muslin and hung by a wooden frame over a jug.
The jug collects the liquid that travels straight through, and left
behind is a very fine bowl shape in the cloth. Layers of material
can be added to thicken it, and the team uses a pipette to make
sure it's concaved in all the right places. The result is an
incredibly delicate and translucent porcelain bowl, which has now
been flipped into a lampshade with the help of a lump of lava.

The team explains on its site that the lava acts as an anchor
point that strengthens the lamp. "The incorporation of a different
material has to be made in order to reinforce the hanging zone and
keep the translucency of the porcelain without augmenting the
thickness of the piece. Also, it was needed to generate a shadow or
contrast that would integrate the anchor point to the visual
expression of the piece."

It helps that there are close to 3,000 volcanoes in Chile, so
inspiration was pretty much everywhere. They placed the porcelain
and the lava in an oven, where the former would normally bake at
1,300C. Seeing as the lava had a melting point of 1,260C, once it
was in the oven the porcelain remained solid and the lava began to
melt. "The result was that lava drains slowly over the solid piece
of porcelain, where the shape, gravity and temperature permit
(almost like a candy)." The lava cools slowly, adhering to the
porcelain without cracking.

So far, so good. But the team wanted to integrate the two
materials further, using technology.

CPP N°2: Porcelain vs Lavagt2P

Speaking
to Dezeen, gt2P's Guillermo Parada explains how a capacitive
sensor fitted into the lump of lava allows an electrostatic field
to be altered every time a finger strokes the lava. The change in
that electrostatic field instructs a microcontroller to turn the
installed LED light on and off.

"The microcontroller can be programmed many times as you want
with different functions or scenes giving us the possibility to
create interactive installations as well," Parada told Dezeen.

The results include delicate flower-like pieces, cast with
ceramic and emitting an eerie but beautiful play of light and shade
around the ominous lump of lava.